The Wonderful World of Fanfiction: Jungle Tour
by Lena Ban Obsidian
Summary: As a hello to the fanfiction.net experience, this is a temporary addition that covers the Acopolis' views on do's and don'ts of fanfic. Uses DBZ for examples.


How to write a fanfic- the Obsidian Acropolis way.

Let's give this a whirl, shall we? ^_^ Hello. My name is Lena Ban Obsidian. 

If you haven't heard of me, or don't really know me too well, you can learn more by visiting http://vale_of_stone.tripod.com where I have made my home on the net. 

I decided to start a ff.net account because I do like publicity. Like any entertainer, I prefer to get a response when I perform. ^_~; So the more I conquer, netwise, the more I hear about it, ne? 

Today's little excursion is just for the sake of getting a feel for the ff.net system. You see, I want to **experiment** _with_ tags that I'm supposedly allowed to use. 

Now, let me check one final thing before we launch this little 'How-To.' 

* * *

#1) Picking a Fandom

So you're gonna write a fanfic, eh? ^_^ Good for you. People need entertainment, and reading, while enjoyable, is getting expensive. (You know...8$ for a paperback...) The more writing out there, the more reading that gets done. Hooray for you! You're going to give the oldest pastime in the book your own personal twist! 

But wait! 

You haven't got a fandom? 

Oh no! Well, let's start at the beginning then. First you've got to decide what it is you want to write about. Do you watch Japanese Animation? If so, you've already got a possibility! There's a large audience for anime fanfiction, and what's more, you can pick a specific anime that you like and become a part of that anime's web community. 

If you don't watch anime, there are other things you can play with. Some people write fanfiction about their favorite bands, and others write about characters from movies and live-action tv shows. There are fanfictions for American cartoon characters and even for characters in video games. 

The only genre that the Obsidian Acropolis will not recommend for web published fanfiction is that of books themselves. It's my feeling that books deserve to be left alone. Just as web authors get extremely huffy about their original characters (commonly known as Mary Sues), so do normal authors. Anne Rice, for example, has publicly asked that fanfic authors not use her characters. 

Well, now you've got a fandom. good for you! Step #1) has been covered! 

* * *

#2) Choosing your characters

Now that you've got a fandom, you need to decide which characters you want to use. 

This _isn't_ as easy it sounds, _trust me._

First off, pick your favorite character of the show. For an example, let's use the popular DragonBall Z. My favorite character is, and always will be, Piccolo. 

Now I need to explain why. Pick your character, and list off ten traits that endear the character to you. Here's my list for Piccolo: 

1) He's green. ^_^  
2) Unlike other characters, he has to choose between the side of evil and the side of good. (Only Vegeta shares this quality, and then only partially.)  
3) Deep voice.  
4) His emphasis is more on the practical uses of power than acquiring power just for the sake of itself.  
5) The fangs. I like them.   
6) His relationship with Gohan: he's probably the only real friend Gohan ever had until Trunks. That's respectable.  
7) His ability to make amusing comments when the rest of the monkey brained characters are too witless to notice the humor of their situation.  
8) The cape. Oh yeah, capes rock!  
9) His name is interesting: I can allude to any of three things because of the show itself. In the show, Piccolo is a word in the alien tongue of the Nameks. In reality, the piccolo is a high-pitched instrument shpaed like a smaller flute. And I can make up an extra meaning for the name because of the precedent that the Nameks' language gives me.  
10) His fusion with Nao. Extra personality! 

Well? Is my list anything like yours? (^_^ Of course, they don't have to be the same.) The list above has traits that are important to Piccolo's character. If you listed what the person looks like and what they generally wear, you're short the character. You need to know who you personally think that the character is, and this is why you make the list. 

Between you and me, I don't usually do this list thing in an actual document or by hand- I do it in my head. That isn't necessarily a good or bad thing, because I sometimes forget a characteristic, but I can also decide to add something new that I discovered about the person. 

One thing to note when planning out a fanfic is that they always turn out better when you've seen the show/read the comic/watched the movie that you're writing about. I've never seen Violinest of Hamel, and even though I really like what I've found on the net, until I _do_ see it, I'll never write a fanfic about it. 

That's not a rule, or anything, but it does constitute kindness to your hopeful readers that are expecting a reasonable portrayal of the characters they so love. 

Now that we've picked our characters, let's address two important matters that fall under the same category. We'll call them sub-headings a and b. 

* * *

Subheading a: The number of characters

Here's a problem that extends to the world of the professionals. 

Say I want to write my first ever Dragonball Z fanfic. (Which will never happen, mind you, because I will ban myself from the net before I write a Dragonball Z fanfic.) I've already established that my favorite character is Piccolo, but I don't want people to think I'm just ignoring the rest of the characters. As we know from the show, there are usually at least two people in the main spotlight, and in a typical episode, everyone's activities for the day are covered, from Chi-Chi to Frieza. 

So instead of approaching my fanfic like a sane person, I start figuring out how to work Chi-Chi, Bulma, Gohan, Trunks, Goten, Master Roshi, Oolong, the Ox King, Mr. Satan, Korin, Yamcha and Mr. Popo into my story that only really needs Goku, Vegeta and Piccolo. 

Ouch, big mistake, me. I've just committed author's suicide! 

If the story only needs three characters, _don't bother with everyone else!_ Mention 'em, maybe, if someone happens to think of a character not present. But don't bother thinking about what they're all doing! 

Leave that to the poor saps out there who like committing author's suicide. 

You can write your fic with as many people in it as you like. But you don't _have_ to include everyone. You can even make a point (or running gag) out of someone's absence from the scene! Just watch the number of players. Remember, Poker only needs three. 

* * *

Subheading b: Original Characters

*shielding self* Wait, wait! Don't get defensive yet! 

*peering around* Look, I'm not going to razz anyone about original characters. Promise. 

I just want to leave a cautionary note concerning them. Keep this in mind as you plunge into your fic: People want to read about the characters from the fandom more than they do about your character. If you're actually coming up with original characters, maybe you should ditch fanfiction and jump instead into the world of real writing. Being as creative as that, you could probably sell a couple of original stories with your original characters- and that'd be more rewarding than fanfiction anyway, now, wouldn't it? 

* * *

#3) Picking a Genre

Right! We've got a fandom. We've even got characters! ...eh... 

Now what? 

Well, take your little list. Here's my imaginary fic thus far: the fandom is DBZ, and the characters are Piccolo, Goku and Vegeta, with possible mentions of other characters if necessary. My main character is Piccolo, mostly because I made my list for him. (^^') 

Here's where my creative processor turns on. It says to me, 'HEY! I've got a **_GREAT_** idea! 

The question is, what kind of idea is it? 

I'll do five scenarios to cover the following five general topics: Death/Angst, Action/Romance, Horror, Humor and Perspectives. We're returning to subheading format. They will be A-E. 

* * *

Subheading a: Creative Processor predicts gloom!

I actually enjoy these type the most. It's Drama, it's Angst, it's the much-hated Deathfic-- and it's usually the best idea anyone has. 

Why that is, I just don't know. But in this scenario, I picture a struggle between Piccolo and Vegeta over the weak/sick/dying Goku. Piccolo is trying to protect him, for Gohan's sake, but Vegeta is mad with rage (for one of the many many many reasons) and wants to kill Goku. Since we mentioned Death, right here we decide 'Hmm...in the end, one of 'em dies. 

This means I have to watch what I do. In Drama, there are two options: Mix it up, and keep it straight. You either mix with Comedy here and there so you don't depress your readers, or you leave it pure black drama for a desired effect. 

No-no of straight Drama: When people are upset, they react. They don't stand around like motionless robots. They also do not always scream and cry and curse and kill things. If you're going for effect, it'll probably detract in a very real way from the mood if you include something along these lines: 

_Coughing, he peered through the smoldering wreckage. "Piccolo?" Eyes teary from the smoke, he struggled to climb over the twisted metal beams and walk over the shattered glass without getting himself impaled. "Piccolo?" This time, he thought he saw movement in answer to his call. _

Worried, he tried to move faster. "Piccolo! Are you all right?" He brushed at his hair, trying desparately to see. Pale purple bangs dropped determinedly into his eyes again. "Answer me!" 

Finally, he reached the area he'd been aiming for. Stomach lurching, he stared in shock at a corpse, burnt and bloody, that might once have been recognizable as a Namek. His throat closed, his strength left him, and he fell hard on his knees, not noticing the glass that cut almost eagerly through his skin. "PIIIICCCOLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" 

... 

See what I mean? That was decently dramatic, until the drama got carried away. "PIIIICCCOLOOOOOOOOO!" Not only looks, sounds, and seems stupid-- 

It IS stupid. 

In movies, in books, in fiction, on TV shows, whatever-- I've never been impressed when people scream names like this. That's just silly. That makes me giggle. 

Another weird trouble with Drama is revelations. People have them a lot in drama. They figure out important plot points (which might have been really obvious), they realize important things about themselves, whatever. One example from a real fanfic of this make me laugh so hard I burst out in tears. 

It really was a great, dramatic story about FarFarello killing Omi, until this particular bit of gold: "No! He couldn't be gay! Or at least, if he was going to be, he should be gay with someone nicer than FarFarello!" 

*chuckle* 

Anyway, as for mixed Drama, you might do something humorous to break up tension a little or to add realism. But you still wouldn't do anything like the last two examples. 

The last point of Drama is specifically aimed at Deathfics. There are lots of people out there who call this a separate category, or label any fic involving death. 

And there are a lot of people who don't. 

I've done both. I personally think the latter is better, since it's more dramatic (which is important for Drama). It usually is depressing when your favorite character dies at the end of the story, but that means you were actually *interested*, right? 

Just so long as you don't bring everyone back from the dead, it doesn't matter which way you go. Everyone deals with things their own way. 

* * *

Subheading b: Creative Processor demands Action, Adventure and Romance!

YAY! Action/Adventure! Love, fighting, swords, mega-powers! It's all good! 

...or...IS it? 

Depends on how you do it. Slow moving action sucks, to put it blunt and true. And I don't know about you guys, but seeing any story on the net that's over twenty chapters makes me want to run away. Far away. And hide underneath a rock until something a little shorter presents itself. 

(If the chapters are incredibly short, I sometimes change my mind. ^_~) 

Action Adventure movies, shows, books are all my favorite. They're interesting and fun! And plot holes are a little more excusable when you're excited anyway. 

So, for my imaginary DBZ story, Goku and Piccolo are out to find Trunks, who's been kidnapped by a vague and as-yet uncertain badguy. (I would obviously have to make one up, in this case, because no idiot on the show would dare try to kidnap anyone but Gohan, and even then, things are iffy.) 

Why isn't Vegeta helping? Well, in my action story, he was in the baddie's way when the kidnapping took place, and he got his tail whooped. After he recovered, Bulma called in Goku to help, and Piccolo joined in-- maybe even Gohan, since Trunks is one of his good friends. (It's Future Trunks! Not Real-Time Trunks!) 

Pretty reasonable set-up, right? I mean, everything plays out fair and square, anyway. So then I can have my way with them! Set out myriad challenges! 

Here begins the million-chapter-marathon. 

Wanna see how it would play out? 

Prologue: Actual Kidnapping Scene.  
Chap. 1: Bulma calls Piccolo and Goku.  
Chap. 2: Gohan follows his father and friend, is discovered when he helps them defeat a dinosaur sent by baddie.  
Chap. 3: They attempt to locate the baddie, but don't know his motive, so can't do it yet. Meanwhile, baddie returns to lair with Trunks, calls up his general, dispatches discreet squadron of female warriors to locate and annihilate the pursuit.  
Chap. 4: Warrior squadron finds good guys. Attempt to seduce them.  
Chap. 5: Warrior squadron attempts to destroy good guys.  
Chap. 6: Warrior squadron attempts to destroy good guys.  
Chap. 7: Warrior squadron attempts... 

Uh oh. 

Looks like I got myself in a rut. That's the problem with Action/Adventure. 

What could I have done to avoid this hole in my plot? Well, first shore up my crumbling villains. 

Why did my baddie abduct Trunks? Well, the baddie's got a personal grudge against Vegeta. 

Why? Hmm. The baddie is female. Vegeta refused her proposal because she wasn't a Saiyan. 

AHA! I've just developed my original character! Perfect, now I have a workable background and so, a viable character. 

So, revise the plot, and instead of the sixty inter-chapters where they fight, and fight, and fight... 

Prologue: Kidnapping.  
Chap. 1: Bulma gets Piccolo and Goku, they arrive just in time to fend off a giant monster with Gohan's surprise help. The monster was sent to kill Bulma; why, they don't know. Meanwhile, two reconnaisance scouts watch the monster fail and immediately hurry to catch up to their master and inform said master of a problem.  
Chap. 2: Since they don't know baddie's motive, they wait for Vegeta to wake up and tell them *who* this baddie could be! When he finally does, he demands that only Goku be present to hear the tale; he tells Goku that the one after him is a female admirer. She has always wanted him, and now is apparently settling for his son.  
Chap. 3: Baddie finally returns to lair, Trunks in tow. She teases him for a few days, but then the two reconnaisance officers report. She calls up her general and dispatches her elite squadron of fighters. Hmm. Wonder which planet she's ruling?  
Chap. 4: Goku, Piccolo and Gohan start off after the baddie. Vegeta wants to come too, but Bulma won't let him until he's healed. They take some spaceship that's lying around from previous adventures. Vegeta gives them the last known location of his would-be admirer. They head off, and meet some resistance.  
Chap. 5: After a difficult battle, they pass beyond the elite squadron to baddie's home planet. They storm her fortress, and face off.   
Chap. 6: Trunks is used as an Ace in her sleeve, and baddie starts to escape. While Gohan rushes to save Trunks, Goku chases the baddie. Piccolo sneaks around the other way, and kills her while she's distracted by Goku.  
Chap. 7: A somewhat traumatized Trunks is returned home to his newly recovered father by the good guys; everything gets wrapped up. 

And Ta-Daa! The trick of Action/Adventure is actually in the Villains. If they're well rounded, and only have certain motivations (I mean, look at my female baddie! She only wanted to one-up Vegeta by taking his son!), then your villains' actions will carry the story. It's very easy to just use that worn excuse of taking over the world, but it's very hard to make that as interesting as a smaller, less immediate ambition. 

WAIT! What about Romance? That's important too! 

Depends on the degree of romance. If two people are thrown together by the main conflict of the story, you've got to work hard-- is it that typical, argumentative, I don't like you but you're hot and the hero kind of relationship? That's hard to justify, and to write, and to enjoy. Say that love is, in fact, the source of the conflict (as in the imaginary DBZ fic) or say that two people, perfectly friendly and likeable in their own ways, meet and, through the course of helping each other out in an agreeable and friendly fashion, come to love each other? 

* * *

Subheading c: Creative Processor recommends Hooorrroorrrr!

EEEEK! *jumps into reader's arms* Not Horror! How scary! 

It is gonna be scary, right? 

Horror isn't really all that commonly categorized as horror. So I'll define what I think of as Horror. 

Any fic that makes you shudder, just thinking about it, any story that creeps you out or makes you question the reality, the validity, or the likelihood of your own existence/situation, is Horror. It doesn't have to be a straight-out scary story. But if it leaves you with an uneasy feeling for any more than an hour after you've read it, it is definitely Horror. 

This one's much harder. It's tricky to actually scare your readers. Usually, in order to so, you'll have to scare yourself. Scaring is entirely different from grossing out. A description of how gory someone's death was does not qualify as horror. It produces disgust and probably creeps you out, but doesn't have the art or finesse that horror requires. 

My imaginary DBZ fic is now horror-based. So what happens? 

Let's say Piccolo's been seeing things. He's alone in the jungle, and dreams the same dream every night. The only thing that changes is who dies. In the dream, he watches as a horrible tiger, scarred and mad with the pain it has suffered, stalks its victim. When the tiger has made its kill and feasted, it turns to him and, against all feline nature, smiles. 

Finally, in the end, Piccolo realizes that this tiger is in fact a manifestation of his own powers... 

And he has killed Gohan and Goku himself. 

Vegeta is spared only because of this realization. 

Kinda scary, yes? At least, it's not entirely predictable...it would depend on what kind of writer I was, whether or not it turned out well. Basically what you want to avoid are zombies that eat flesh and make everyone hide in the basement...and why? 

Because your readers will ask these questions: Why do they eat flesh? Why do people run away? What kind of powers do these zombies have? Why don't people just beat the zombies up? How strong can weak and long-dead zombies really be? What called up the zombies? How can they be gotten rid of? Who will fight the zombies? Can the zombies be fought? 

See? Hell in a handbasket, my friend. You have to ask yourself questions like that if you don't want to get them from your readers. 

* * *

Subheading d: Creative Processor suggests humor!

HAHAHAHAHAAAA...okay, no. 

Don't even. 

Nnnt! Stop right there! Listen to me, babe, humor works a certain way. Your story's going to be entirely humorous? I doubt it. Joke after gag is boring. Trust me. You have to mix to make comedy work, and you have to know how to keep it short. 

Keeping on track might not really matter... 

But those things do. Most of the things I put up on the net are humor. I like to laugh at my own work. ^_^; It makes me feel good. The trouble with humor is wide-spread, and here's how it goes; readers won't laugh if you just aren't funny. 

A Reader's Handy-Dandy Guide of Rules about Humor:

1: It is not funny when you mischaracterize my favorite character. Ever.  
2: Inside jokes that are between you and one of your webfriends aren't particularly amusing either.  
3: Cliché characteristics that are either an exaggeration or lie about the character's personality do not make for good jokes.  
4: Puns are un necessary and often detract from my amusement.  
5: Randomness and silliness only go so far; a goofy story with plot is actually funnier.  
6: Running gags can be funny. But you've gotta watch it, because they can also be the most damned annoying thing about a fic.  
7: Contrary to popular belief, poor spelling, grammar, punctuation and choice of language (ie cussing) are NOT funny. Do you see us laughing?  
8: Embedded Author's Notes don't improve your story's humor. They annoy me and break up the flow of the story. .  
9: And those god-forsaken footnotes[1]? Make them go away! NOW! 

[1] People do this all the time, where they number off something so they can explain something separately, apologize for something, or make note of something. They often put the explanation as I have, just below the reference itself, or at the bottom/end of the document. And I'll tell you right now: It's the most annoying and useless device ever used outside of a history text. 

That covers almost everything. But here's a take on Script-Format humor, too. 

Piccolo: 'Script-Format?' 

Author: Yeah. When the characters have their names next to their lines, and dialogue is the main body of the story. 

*Piccolo snorts disdainfully and crosses his arms over his chest* 

Piccolo: What about actions? 

Author: They're written separately. In Italics, or marked by symbols. The result is somewhat like a written script for a play, with the stage directions becoming all actions in the story. 

Piccolo: *perplexed* Well, what's funny about that? 

Author: I don't think it's really for humor's sake, just because it's easier to write out. *shrugging* It's a lot easier to just do verbs separately from speech than to write in detailed background information and incorporate it all. 

Piccolo: But doesn't that detract from the piece of writing? 

Author: It does. With plays, a scriptwriter has to keep a lot of open space for actors to do what they will, and let directors make most scenic decisions, but with an author of anything else, there's really not much of an excuse. 

Oh yes! I almost forgot. There is also the popular 'mockery' brand of humor. I indulge in this one quite a bit myself. ^_~; The only thing to keep in mind here is not to be hateful, and not to be distasteful. Otherwise, there's not much humor in it! 

For scenario purposes, we'll say my humor-fic is this last form. I decide to mock the DBZ fighting time-warp, through Piccolo and Vegeta sitting on the sidelines while Goku faces down...ooohhh, I dunno...Cell, I guess. 

In this, all I'd really have to do was something like this:  
_Piccolo sighed, glancing up at the sun. "It's been three hours now. Are they going to get going soon or not? I could have finished the rest of Weiss Kreuz!"  
To his left, Vegeta grumbled incoherently. Piccolo couldn't really blame him; the fellow'd been content catnapping the afternoon away. "Oh, come on, Piccolo. You know the rules: six obligatory hours of bravado are *required* before powerups. There's no breaking the rules! It wouldn't be kosher."_

^___^ See? 

* * *

Subheading e: Creative Processor wants perspective

This is a weird category, really. Perspectives save you the trouble of having to really cover action. You just explore a character, a relationship, an event, via the fiction. 

I don't really have many tips for it. But if you're exploring, be sure it really does explore; I like using Perspective fics to get a grasp of characters, or shows. My own opinions change a lot, so it's useful to me to go through and just look at what I think is going on. I write down my opinion as artfully as I can, and there's a perspective- my own, in fact- on one of those three possibilities. 

Say my perspective fic is about Piccolo's friendship with Gohan. I would merely write down, probably from Piccolo's perspective, what I think Piccolo thinks about Gohan. I would include what I think he feels about their friendship, how it affects who he is as a person, having this little boy around to care about almost like his own son. 

That's basically how it goes. 

* * *

#4) Finally getting started

Thought I'd never get here, didn't you? Well, it's all right. Now you've got a fandom and some characters to play with. You've decided what you're going to do with them-- for my imaginary DBZ fic, say I picked the Action/Adventure option. 

...geee...how do I start this? 

In my case, it wouldn't be hard. My story starts with a kidnapping! A dramatic battle! That's fun stuff. But things aren't always that easy; most people prefer to start with everything calm and dandy, and build up the background first. Backgrounds are important, and I won't disagree with that, but here are some alternate approaches to tackling the beginning of your story: 

1: start with immediate action! ^_~ At least it's fun. And action can include people's thoughts during that action. Say you've got a volcanic eruption going on! The evacuating townsfolk can think about the home they're leaving and build your background while convincing stubborn elders or youn'uns to come along. 

2: don't write the beginning first. I was amazed when I realized that I'm one of the few people who does this! I have trouble with beginnings. They can be extremely boring. So a lot of times, I'll write a later chapter first, to get my story going. 

3: start with a more trivial problem than the main theme. If your character will eventually have to defeat a major badguy, start with a minor, everyday kind of crisis-- 'AAACK! I'm going to miss the bus!' 

4: work some more on your background. If your story isn't really inspiring you to write, polish up the background itself a little more! 

4: write that boring background. ~_~; I don't really like this option. If your background is boring, make it exciting! If some of the boringness is necessary, at least tell it in an interesting way. A paragraph of boring writing is a lot easier to deal with than a chapter of it. 

Whew! You're kickin' tail! That's four steps covered now. The next one seems to skip a bit, but that's only because I'm not one to tell other people how to go about the actual process of writing. To each her own, I say! 

* * *

#5) Editing

Hmmm, now this is a difficult sucker. I don't know, there are lots of opinions out there. Some say you're going to be the easiest one to please with your story. (I really don't think so!) Others say you're going to be the hardest person you have to please. I lean toward the latter; I hate so much of my writing! I kill it mercilessly with self-edit after self-edit and even then I'm not always satisfied (hell, I'm hardly ever satisfied!). But you know what? If you know how to edit, and you're a serious author, you're the best editor you have! You'll catch things a lot faster than somone unfamiliar with your story, or unwilling to edit. Do self-edits at least once before asking for a friend's help. 

A friend might not be a great editor, either. Pick someone you know, who likes the fandom you're writing about, who knows how to edit or at least writes, and is not afraid to be honest with you. 

Hard to find, aren't they? I haven't one myself. But unfortunately, that's the only kind of editor who'll do you real good. Someone who's your friend will break it to you nicely, and tell you what you did right as well as what you did wrong. You need this assurance too, because nobody gets better at writing when they've been insulted-- except for writing angrily. 

Another thing, sort of a note for would-be editors, is an important rule: if you heap a huge pile of what's wrong onto an author's plate, it doesn't matter that all of your criticisms are fair and positive. You've just given that poor author a mountainload of cleanup to do! And that's not fair. Pick the most obvious flaws in writing and point these out-- trust in an author to figure the minor ones out, eventually. 

* * *

#6) Formatting

This applies strictly to web-posted fiction, obviously. And it's simple: PLEASE do not have .txt documents that make your readers do a horizontal scroll to read each line! 

WE WILL NOT READ DOCUMENTS LIKE THAT! 

^_^;;;; 

Also: avoid bright colors. Black and white, in any combination, works better. (Though with light text, a light gray is less hurtful to the eyes.) If you must have color, have dim or pale colors that don't make your readers cringe in fear. 

Also Also: space! And start new paragraphs at reasonable times. Having lots of really huge paragraphs (or one long never-ending paragraph) is unfair. 

Also Also Also: Chapters are not a bad thing. They make the reading load seem smaller. 

And finally: Tiny type and large type alike are extremely annoying. I can't read tiny tiny type! And giant type makes you seem young and inexperienced, just as giant handwriting would on college-rule paper! 

* * *

#7) Prologues and Epilogues and Author's Notes

These can get annoying. To me, a prologue is best used to explain a time period that happened long before the actual story but has effect on it. Or, long after the story and sets up the ending in a sort of deja vu deal. 

Epilogues are different. These should be used if the story just doesn't finish for you in the way you want, and you have to add an extra part to show what happened after the final scene. Epilogues are best kept to action packed stories; because they work best as a quiet follow-up to a final battle scene. 

Author's Notes are weird. I don't really use 'em. If something seems to merit mentioning in a story, I put that in as an author's note. Some others use author's notes to communicate more directly with their readers, either at the beginning or end of their stories. Why don't I? Well, if I really got a response from my readers, perhaps I *would* do this...but I don't. *looks pitiful* So you see, I have no real reason to do more than I already do. 

The only trouble with Author's Notes is when they are embedded. (Example: Piccolo walked in, wearing his studly cape. *AN: You know, I just looooove that cape! It's sexy.* "Gohan!" He said, deep voice rumbling. "It's time...") 

* * *

#8) Writing from a different Point of View

It's been said that only third person authors are really authors by nature. If it's easier to tell by first person, you're supposedly not so much a writer as good at relating your story (I guess your own personal story, in this case) to others. 

That's kinda stupid though. The bizarre thing of writing first person is that it requires you to be more of an actor, and less of a storyteller. You've got to communicate the character you're writing as. Only that character, no one else. So if the character loses consciousness, you miss out on some information, and if your character doesn't know everything about the story, well, your character has to be in the dark, and you have to write it that way. I don't use first person very much; it makes me itch to tell more than what my character can actually tell. 

Monologues are very fun, an easy way to do a tiny snippet of first person. Third person has the benefit of omniscience, so you can switch to any part of the story you want. 

Then there's second person, in which I'd write something like this: 

_You keep forgetting what's happened; each night you forget. Who is she? What is she doing here? You wonder it each time, and are afraid, each time, as she comes to you..._

There, a snippet of second person writing. Here you really do _tell_ the story, and all the time address the reader as if the reader were a character. It's an extremely fun device, but it's also very hard, so beware. 

Last, in stylistic POV madness, we have the wonderful choice of tense. Prophecies are almost always written in the future tense. This is good, as a prophecy of the past would be kind of useless. And stories are usually written in the past tense. 

It can also be fun to write in the present tense: 

_Still, cool. It is quiet outside. He doesn't know why, but he simply must look, and twitches the blinds open with a flick of his wrist-- There! A tiny, web-winged dragonfly dances in the shadows beyond the silvery panes of glass, a whispering creature of the sweet and welcoming night._

Yay! ^_^ That is, indeed, fun. You can also do present tense in first person, though I think it would be hard in second person. Let's try both: 

_I don't know where to turn. He keeps smiling. "NO!" My hands go to my head, almost before the pain registers. He is a demon. Schuldich. It means guilty in German; I know that now. "NO!"_

Whokay. ^_~' First person works. Here's second person: 

_You twist, turn beneath his hands. You are helpless. Weak. Pathetic. His laughter echoes; how sad that you would waste your fragile life, little one. How pitiful. Your sister will never see you now, your friends will wonder what happened to you-- hah, some assassin you are, Abyssinian. You are helpless. You are losing. You are dead._

...OH YEAH. *turns into puddle, loving these snippets* You can *definitely* do it in second person. But, as is probably obvious, some tenses are better for shorter fics and others better for long ones. 

Now for the final section: 

* * *

#9) Dealing with feedback (or lack thereof)

Umm. Feedback. ^_^; Heh. Well, if you don't get much, don't be upset. I don't get much, and I've got a decent amount of fanfiction out there. 

If you do get feedback, there's several different kinds. Some are better than others. Personally, I'm less than thrilled by emails that contain only one line: 'That wuz gr8. Keep it up! :D' Those never really thrill me. I've never received a flame, mind you, or even a negative email, but I don't really think I'd enjoy those either. 

My favorite feedback is the kind I try to give: long, descriptive emails proving that I read and enjoyed the story that praise what I liked in a story and mention what I thought could have been improved. It especially helps to respond only to fictions you actually are thoroughly involved with; if I sent mail to every author I read, I'd have to pull a lot of 'That wuz gr8' shit just to meet my quota. And that would be a waste of everyone's time. 

Whatever happens, don't be discouraged by negative feedback and try to take everything from an objective standpoint. Not everyone will love your writing; unfortunately, that's just life. 

Well, that wraps up my little jungle-tour through Fanfiction! I hope it wasn't a waste of time on my part or cyberspace on the part of FF.net! Ja ne, take care, and buenos noches (^_~)! 

~Lena 


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